I remember when George Bush signed The Patriot Act back in the day, and just how pissed off us lefty lovers of liberty and justice were. I also remember just how appaled we were about the countless instances where people were arrested, held indefinitely in jails across the country, for practically nothing related to 9/11 and or any other terroristic threats or activities. And now here we are today and president Obama has extended The Patriot Act, and yet there's not a word of dissent, disgust, or even disappointment from anyone identified as an Obama supporter. Of course to do so would mean you're racist; and that's not cool. Nope, not in post-racial America where "Blackness" now means no excuses for regular Black folk, and a free pass if you happen to be POTUS.
So, can anyone tell me just exactly what the fuck actually changed? Oh, all of a sudden it's cool to infringe on our civil liberties because, well, the sitting president happens to be a Democrat? OK, so lemme get this right: Osama bin Laden is dead, Al-Qaeda has been reduced to about 12 people after trillions spent on a bullshit war on terror; but the war continues, and yet and still it's important to keep legislation alive which allows the government to give you an anal probe whenever they feel like it without probable cause?
But anyway, lemme stop my tired-ass Liberal/Progressive whining before Seal Team 6 shows up at my door ready to pump something not-so-nice into my booty, and dump my fat ass in the Mississippi river in some secret mission.
Too bad they didn't have this shit when Negroes were terrorized...
Tavis: Always pleased to welcome Dr. Cornel West to this program. The Princeton professor and best-selling author is also, I am proud to say, in terms of full disclosure, co-host of “Smiley & West” on public radio, distributed by Public Radio International. Doc, as always, good to see you on the West Coast.
Dr. Cornel West: Always a blessing, my brother. Sunshine, I like.
Tavis: Yeah, good to see you, good to see you. I have some blue cards in my hand. I’m not a blue card sort of guy, as you know watching this program every night, but I wanted to have these cards in my hand because I really want to go through the particulars of this interview you gave with Chris Hedges on Truthdig some days ago that has caused such a furor in the Internet space, the blogosphere, amongst progressives, amongst the Black academy, specifically; in the academy more broadly, given what “The Boston Globe” had to say about you the other day.
West: Oh, yeah.
Tavis: So you’ve kicked up quite a controversy, as you know, with your comments about President Barack Obama, specifically your critique of him not being progressive enough – those are my words, not yours. So to jump right into the conversation and make the most of the time I have, let me pull out some of these quotes that you offered in this interview that you’ve been taken to task for and give you a chance to respond so that I and the viewer understand better what it is you were saying.
In no particular order, number one, you referred to the president as “A Black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a Black puppet of corporate plutocrats. And now he has become head of the American killing machine and is proud of it.” Talk to me.
West: Yeah, well, one, I had in mind the fact that as a progressive you begin with the plight and predicament of poor people and working people, and you see their situation with a sense of urgency. It’s a state of emergency, so that mass unemployment, mass under-employment, mass incarceration, massive lack of quality education and housing itself becomes part and parcel of a national security issue.
Well, the minute I read Chris Hedges' piece on Truthdig titled The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West Went Ballistic, that there was gonna be serious contention here in Negronia. As you know and as we've discussed on this site a time or two. You just can't be Black and levy any criticism of America's first Black president - yes, it's in the official Negro handbook; you know, the one that tells "us" what to do should we ever encounter police in a traffic stop? Yeah, that rule is in there too; the Skip Gates arrest made it happen.
There's so much I wan't to say about this whole mess, but due to time constraints as I type, I'll leave it up to you folks to have at it. Do share your thoughts, and be sure to read Hedges' piece, as well as Melissa Harris-Perry (here). If you ask me, I think all of this plays into the notion that white folks salivate about Negro infighting. While black folks focus on the trivial and ignore the larger issues. The oligarchy and plutocracy prospers while poor people not able to afford their scraps drown in the sea of economic inequality, hopelessness, and downright neglect by way of public policy.
Checkout the reactions of Twitter's Backademia via Dr. Goddess here. In it you'll find that much of the thoughts expressed centered on Dr. Cornel West feeling slighted or "betrayed" by then President Elect Barack Obama. In the Hedges piece, West reveals how he felt about the fact that he was not able to get a ticket to the inauguration after all the work he basically put in for Obama, and all the personal phone calls and counsel with then candidate Obama. But for some, this is a petty point of contention; yep,, the typical "he's a hater," talk.
What is truly missed in all the subsequent commentary however, is West's larger point. That would be, just how democracy has, is, and continues to be compromised by someone touted as the most progressive American president in history. And you know what? I think this is very sad that this is the focus as opposed to the albeit hostile takeover of democracy by elites and by extension some of Obama's appointments and their reward links to Wall Street. And of course while this is happening, poor marginalized folks have been the scapegoat for economic woes and are being punished via cutbacks.
You might not agree with me, and that's fine. However, I'll say this last bit and I'm out. President Obama spoke at Booket T. Washington High School at their commencement execise this past Monday. He spoke at the first all-black high school in the city of Memphis. A school that is located in one of (if not the most) most impoverished communities in the city. A school which with effort and dedication has improved drastically recently. In his address to those kids he said: "It's about the possibilities and not the excuses." With that said, don't tell me what the first black president can or cannot do for struggling poor and working poor among us. Seriously, miss me with that talk, people....
Well, although it might be early in the game by the standards of political punditry, President Obama has officially launched his 2012 re-election bid. Yeah I know, you're shocked by this and never saw it coming, right? Well, I suppose when you're slated to raise $1 billion for a re-election bid, there's nothing wrong with getting an early start. Especially in this crappy economy.
Of course for now everyone's talking about the field of GOP hopefuls. But something tells me that sooner or later the narrative is going to shift to Obama, and the ability to recapture the 2008 magic. Soon the talk is going to be about vanquished liberal progressives, more so than with independents in the middle.
Hopefully our friends on the right forgo racial politics of old. But of course that's a pipe dream because a old dogs tend to stick to their tried and true tricks as opposed to anything new. Above and beyond everything, the burning questions are: Can he do it? Will he do it? And more importantly, will we do it?
OK, so I'm gonna remain silent on this one and let you guys have at it. If you're been a longtime reader of this site, I'm sure you know where I stand or what I may think about what was said by Cornel West in the above interview via Democracy NOW! Not taking sides, but I dare you to show me where Dr. West is wrong. Yep, this should be interesting; but then again, I expect you neo-Negroes to remain silent. Surely one of you will say that he's just another hater.
Read his words and think it through:
[...] I think what happened was that President Bush understood this and individualistic way, which is the way most fellow Americans understand racism: "Do I actually hate black people individually?" No, I don’t think President Bush individually hates black people. His policies were racist in effect and consequence and especially classist in terms of generating misery among poor and working people, disproportionately black and brown.
[...] And I would say that even about the Obama administration. The Obama administration seems to have very little concern about poor people and their social misery. Look at the policies vis-à-vis Wall Street downplaying Main Street. Look at the policies of black farmers, a settlement already in place but they don’t want to executed because they don’t want to be associated with black folk too explicitly. Look at the dilapidated housing. We can go across the board. Look at the New Jim Crow system: the Prison Industrial Complex. We’re not talking just about individual presidents. We’re talking about a system that is tilted against poor people, against working people, disproportionately black and brown and red.
If everything holds true as pretty much every single poll suggests. Democrats are going to take significant losses in the House this midterm elections. I suspect that once it's all said and done and there will be much finger pointing on the left, while folks on the right will see this as some moral victory willed by God.
So, quite naturally, there'll be a lot of blame to go around, that is, if it hasn't started already. But the truth is, the Obama administration, and the Democratic Party, aside from the idiocy that is the right, bears some responsibility, if not all for their demise. However, it would be interesting to see just how this plays out.
With the imaginable quest for bi-partisanship that was as elusive as the unicorn. The White House lead Democrats all but failed to hold up their end of the bargain, and made compromise after compromise.
This from regular reader shadygrady on my last post:
Ladies and Gents....
The POTUS made a strategic mistake in not seizing the moment for bold action to break with what had gone previously. He had the entire free-market right wing orthodoxy on the ropes and not only did he not move in for the kill, he also inexplicably went out of his way to help his opponent off the ropes even while he was being spat upon and kidney punched. In short, the POTUS doesn't seem to have the heart for combat.
Tough talk about "punishing your enemies" or "having to know whose a$$ to kick" doesn't change the fact that 9 times out of 10 when faced with determined and insanely vitriolic opposition from the Right, the POTUS has either tried to find middle ground or folded. And whether or not it's true, insulting the intelligence or concerns of the larger American electorate is not a winning political strategy. Neither was being 100% concerned on health care while unemployment rate was consistently over 9% too smart politically.
So whatever happens tomorrow, I hope that the POTUS can learn and readjust. If not, well the next two years will be that much more interesting.
I couldn't agree more; but I suppose folks would say he's wrong.
The following commentary comes from The Real News Network's senior editor, Paul Jay. In it he sums up the frustration of many progressives and members of the "professional" and "unprofessional" left such as myself.
Take the time to view it, and do share your thoughts, will you? Do tell me, in your opinion, where exactly did things go wrong, and just how did we get here with only 2yrs removed 2008's presidential mandate?
Because you can't stay neutral on a moving train, and because democracy is what happens between elections, it's time for progressives to be heard loud and clear. The One Nation Working Together March, is something I can get with. Anything else is, well, really foolish and regressive to me.
Ya hear me Glenn Beck minions? Oh yeah, and that means you too feet dragging Democrats! There's a fierce urgency of now for the progressive movement, and anyone interested in "Hope & Change".
Sorry, this isn't about "taking our country back." Instead, it's about the lives of "We The People" interested in progress. Hopefully the following video expands on the necessary conversation we should be having.
QUESTION(S): What do you think about the message of the of this movement? Do you think politicians and the current administration are listening? Does this motivate you to vote Dems?
In one simple interview and subsequent article in The Hill, the White House, via Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, has managed to send a clear message to members of the electorate - something it has long had a problem of doing. Unfortunately, not intended for the public at large, and specifically targeted for the progressive base of the Democratic Party, the words were clear:
“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”
The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.”
Of those who complain that Obama caved to centrists on issues such as healthcare reform, Gibbs said: “They wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president.”
The White House, constantly under fire from expected enemies on the right, has been frustrated by nightly attacks on cable news shows catering to the left, where Obama and top lieutenants like Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have been excoriated for abandoning the public option in healthcare reform; for not moving faster to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay; and for failing, so far, to end the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
Liberals have criticized Obama and his staff for moving to the middle and bargaining on healthcare reform, as well as the financial regulatory overhaul and even the $787 billion economic stimulus package, which some liberals said should have been larger.
[...] Gibbs’s tough comments reflect frustration and some bafflement from the White House, which believes it has done a lot for the left.
In just over 18 months in office, Obama has passed healthcare reform, financial regulatory reform and fair-pay legislation for women, among other bills near and dear to liberals.
Obama is also overseeing the end of the Iraq war, with the U.S. on schedule to end its combat operations by the end of this month.
He’s also added diversity to the Supreme Court by nominating two female justices, including the court’s first Hispanic. Yet some liberal groups have criticized his nominees for not being liberal enough.
“There’s 101 things we’ve done,” said Gibbs, who then mentioned both Iraq and healthcare.
Gibbs said the professional left is not representative of the progressives who organized, campaigned, raised money and ultimately voted for Obama.
Progressives, Gibbs said, are the liberals outside of Washington “in America,” and they are grateful for what Obama has accomplished in a shattered economy with uniform Republican opposition and a short amount of time. (SOURCE: The Hill)
There's no doubt in my mind that being the president of the United States of America is a pretty tough job. And as jacked up things were when Barack Obama came into office, it's a wonder he hasn't grabbed two cans of beer out of the fridge and slid out of a White House emergency exit window.
But be that as it may, does the White House really do itself any good by pissing off the base of its party three months prior to midterm elections? See what I mean about them not being able to control the message?
In a year pivotal to democratic incumbents whose political lives are threatened by the right-wing noise machine, Gibbs' reaction seems a bit ill timed. As many distractions as the White House has had in recent weeks (if not months), is this good political strategy?
Just recently in the wake of the Shirley Sherrod fiasco, president Obama sought to shift blame by indicting the 24/7 news cycle from the culpability of the White House in the firing of Shirley Sherrod. I wonder just what he has to say about this one...
"I think people are dazzled by Obama's rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be a mediocre president - which means, in our time, a dangerous president - unless there is some national movement to push him in a better direction." - Howard Zinn
"What matters most is not who is sitting in the White House, but "who is sitting in" -- and who is marching outside the White House, pushing for change." - Howard Zinn
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King Jr.
With great anticipation many of us await Barack Obama's State of the Union address this evening. I mean who wouldn't especially the way things have been playing itself out politically lately; that combined with the general sentiment of the general public at large should make it very interesting. From the looks of it, tonight's speech should serve as the perfect opportunity for Obama to reshape and reconnect with the American public who may have fallen out of love with him.
Of course there have been a few leaks of the speech, and yes he's going to try and sell the idea of a potential spending freeze to Congress and the public at large (I guess that's why Robert Gibbs has been all over my TV this morning). But one has to wonder if this generations version of the Gettysburg Address would be enough for him to win favor with his progressive supporters such as myself.
In steps Dr. Cornel West; a man after my own heart, who I absolutely adore. Only the simple-minded among us would see what Dr. West says below as just the words expressed through the lenses of another hatin' ass Negro. Oh how I long for the days when life was that simplistic for us all:
“He who warned uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.” -- Sarah Palin on Paul Revere
